What is the Difference Between Skateboarding and Longboarding?
Skateboard vs Longboarding, it is a debate which rages on between extreme sport enthusiasts, especially between those who like to hang out doing tricks at the skate parks in your local area and those who cruise the streets, searching for the perfect hill they can get a thrill out of speeding down. So what is the difference between skateboarding and longboarding? Longboarding became popular after skateboarding became a hit in the 1950’s.
Surfer’s who were looking for something else to do when the surf just wasn’t cutting it, decided to make longer boards and essentially ‘surf on the ground’. Longboarding has many similar movements to surfing, and therefore was easy to pick up for those who liked to surf. Both beginners and pro's jumped at the chance to ride a longboard.
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Skateboarding and longboarding may seem quite similar to the untrained eye but there are a number of major differences, that should be considered before you decide which type of board you may want to buy.
Size: Longboards are usually 35-60 inches long with a width of 9-10 inches. This compares to skateboards which are usually 28-34 inches long and have a width of 7-10 inches. The longer and wider board makes longboards easier to balance on, especially if you are just beginning to skate.
Shape: Skateboards are very distinct, curving upwards at both ends. This makes it much easier to perform tricks, such as ollies and kickflips. Longboards come in many different shapes, such as pintails, flat nose and boards shaped like a longer shortboard. Instead of curving at each end, longboards have 2 narrow strips at each end. This makes them easier to balance on and easier to cruise on. On the bottom of the deck, a shortboards trucks are designed to handle grinding on curbs, benches and rails. The longboards trucks tend to be looser, ruling out many tricks but allowing for easier turning.
Wheels: Longboards have bigger, softer wheels than shortboards. This is so they can go faster and absorb any sticks, pebbles or cracks that may get in the way. Shortboards smaller wheels are better at maintaining the same speed. The smaller wheels are easier to do tricks with although can easily be thrown off by any small obstacles.
Photography: Lindsay Clark
Longboards have looser trucks, softer and bigger wheels, and a greater flexibility in the board which allows for a more comfortable cruise where you can take on bigger and tighter turns with ease.
The large wheels let you ride over cracks easily making it the perfect board to cruise, get from point A to point B with or to speed down hills. However, longboards can be big and heavy and therefore a liability to carry around. Shortboards are designed to do tricks.
The wheels, curved ends and smaller length all lend themselves to grinding, and doing ollies at the skate park. They are not stable on all terrain and can be quite uncomfortable on longer cruises. Shortboards are easy to carry around, small and convenient. So hopefully you know more on the difference between skateboarding and longboarding. Picking which board depends on what you get the adrenalin rush and thrill out of.
Pick a short board to master difficult tricks or pick a longboard to cruise with your mates and get a thrill from the speed.